Best Thing at IB 2009...

Was my pillow and the backs of my eyelids after all day at demo and on the show floor...

Seriously though, it was the interactions with people; dealers, friends, acquaintances new and old.

Product is great, but it is only substrate for the experience.

Camping out at Dirt Demo was fantastic! Tim and I left Dirt Demo setup about 5:00 Sunday afternoon loaded up on Burritos and headed up into the hills. After hours riding, getting electrocuted (only a slight tingle, keep hands on the rubber) under the high tension power lines, and pushing for a few more hours we made camp overlooking the town of BC.

We rolled out our ground cloths; Tyvek for me, and E-Blanket for Tim, aired up our mattresses, and layed out our bags under the stars. Despite all the light pollution the stargazing was great. We sipped a bit of coffee and talked for quite awhile about nothing and everything and dozed off to sleep.
Monday morning brought a nice cool breeze that convinced me to climb in my bag pre-dawn. Mostly to keep it from blowing away... When light broke the alcohol stove was lit and more coffee consumed before the roll back into town.

Best start to IB in the past 5 years I've been there. I'm thinking this will be an annual. Are you in?

Gravel 1: Joe 0

Ouch... Wish I had pictures to show the carnage. This just isn't something I want to document visually.

Today I spent most of my time feet up, hoping to heal before the flight to Vegas for Interbike.

Every once in awhile I have one of those crashes where I'm happy to have walked away without a trip to the hospital. I've had a lot of Vitamin G this summer, most times I've emerged victorious against it, but not yesterday.

Tour Divide Take 1

From the Start in Banff, Canada to Richmond Peak, just outside of Ovando, Montana. This covers about half the time that Chris, Kurt, and I spent roaming the GDMBT until our split in Lima, Montana. Much of this time was also spent chasing or running from the Petervary's on their Tandemonium, Love Shack experience.

So many memories...Funny how the mind forgets the physical conditioning that took place in these first few days.

Tour Divide Part 1 from jmeiser on Vimeo.

Mason

Nope, nothing about bikes, or riding. Mason Jennings newest album "Blood of Man" launched digitally yesterday. If you're still a luddite and clamor for that jewel case it comes out next Tuesday. I'll be listening to this album today, tomorrow, and likely for the next few months...

Saturday we went to the State Fair with good friends Zach & Becca. We were talking about Mason Jennings and it reminded me of Anni and my second date. Jennings, then on the verge of being a national act opened for Jack Johnson at a small private college in west Michigan. The show was incredible and the music has been a part of our lives ever since.

Beautiful little melodies and fun guitar riffs... This music is at home on a road trip across the plains or a backyard barbecue.

This one happened to be on the south shore of Kauai...

Thirsty

Last spring Anni and I bought a couple starts of hops. I built a couple of simple trellises to grow them on and we had a good covering to soften the stark garage wall.

Fast forward to this summer and the hops are starting to reach their potential. From what I've read it takes 3-years to fully establish them. All summer they have been forming a canopy over part of the back yard as we trained them onto ropes between the house and garage.

This makes me thirsty...



It's harvest time now. For the past couple weeks I've been clipping and drying the flowers for use in some home brew. Only problem is, I've never brewed. So I've solicited a couple of folks that do.

These are going to end up in a brew soon enough.



It hasn't been all gardening lately. Friday morning rides have been fast and fun. I feel like my legs are coming back just in time for a few cross races.

River Bottoms Crew...

Levis Trow

The last days of summer are upon us. Tim decided to skip a Wednesday of work in favor of singletrack. I decided to join him and work out some of the mental kinks that come from to little singletrack time and a line-up of summer house projects needing to be finished.

At 6:15 we loaded my bike on the car and headed east, stopping at the Bikery after dropping off Tim's Wife at work. A little carpooling is always a good thing. With sustinence in hand it was a short drive to the Black River State Forest and the Levis Trow trailhead. In five years of living in the upper midwest this trail has eluded me. It was time I visit.

This summer my Big Mama has seen very little saddle time when compared to the Fargo, for obvious reasons. I recently swapped the V1 prototype frame for a production prototype. Yesterday was all about getting the suspension dialed in.



Levis Trow is loaded with singletrack. We went up to the North trails and looped back to the car, grabbed lunch and rode up on the mounds to a lookout for lunch. Next time I'm bringing the Hammock



After lunch we spent some time up on the mounds riding a bit more technical terrain. The rock formations, dry environment, and pines reminded me so much of the Gila Mountains in Southern New Mexico.



A few hours of riding is always good for the soul. As the summer is winding down it is time to get in all that I can before the snow flies.